Judge refuses to release Mexican official pending US trial

CHICAGO – A federal judge in Chicago has refused to release a former commander of a Mexican intelligence unit charged with trading secrets to a drug cartel.

The judge said at a hearing Thursday that Ivan Reyes Arzate has no close ties to the U.S. and would be too much of a flight risk.

At one of his first court appearances in Chicago earlier this year, Arzate waived his right to a bond hearing. But he recently asked if he could live at the Springfield home of family acquaintances as he awaits trial. He displayed no reaction in court when the judge denied his request.

A federal complaint unsealed in April accuses him of divulging the identity of an informant to the Beltran Leyva cartel. That person was later tortured and killed.